The Archbishop of Paris has said that the adoption of assisted suicide in France is “not the end of the fight”, stating that “nothing should force us to make them as realities in our lives”. The new law legalising the practice was promulgated by French President Emmanuel Macron on August 19.
Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris said opposition to assisted suicide was one for “fraternity to prevail”, urging Catholics to “continue to pray, hope and act creatively and consistently”.
He said: "Today, tomorrow, in the time to come, we will undoubtedly have to make courageous choices, perhaps against the tide, starting with those we will make for ourselves. It is thus up to us, first of all, to choose not to ask to benefit from this new 'right'.”
The law creates a right to assisted suicide provided that a patient suffers from a serious and incurable terminal illness or an advanced disease, is in unbearable physical pain and can make a decision on the procedure throughout. Individuals other than the doctor must be consulted and the patient must either be a French citizen or a long-term resident. On August 14, France’s Constitutional Council ruled that the law did not impede upon the “principle of safeguarding human dignity”.
The archbishop continued: "The reservations expressed by the Constitutional Council are an opportunity in this regard: that the structures that have made the accompaniment of seriously ill people their raison d'être and palliative care their expertise find in these reservations an encouragement to maintain their particularity, and to remain these places where one will not kill.
Macron welcomed the decision, stating that it completed “an exemplary democratic debate”. The law had been passed by the National Assembly three times but was repeatedly rejected by the Senate. Invoking Article 45, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu bypassed the Senate, allowing the National Assembly to proceed with the bill. A fourth vote then passed in the Assembly.
The French bishops warned that the poorest in society “may be the first to pay the price” and that society’s “relationship to vulnerability, old age, disability or illness will change”. Last year, supporters of the law in France argued that the introduction of euthanasia could save the country an estimated €1.4 billion per year.
The bishops of France had engaged in the long-running debate on euthanasia after French President Emmanuel Macron announced public discussions on the issue. In a statement, they said they believed that “the political, ideological and probably even economic stakes, disguised by misleading words, got the better of this ambition”.
